A seven-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas expired on Friday morning, which was used to free Hamas hostages and deliver aid to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip. Since then, the Israeli army has continued its attacks on Hamas, while the Palestinian radical Islamic organization has resumed firing rockets at Israel.
Israel has bombed more than 400 targets in the Gaza Strip since Friday morning, the army said. Because of the new bombing, clouds of gray smoke rose over the Gaza Strip. According to the military, the Air Force, ground troops and the Navy were involved in the operations. Among other things, fighter jets bombed more than 50 targets in the area around the southern city of Chan Yunis.
Israel continues attacks
The war in the Middle East between Hamas and Israel continues after the end of the ceasefire. The Israeli military attacked more than 50 targets of Islamic Hamas and other terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip on Saturday night.
The entire Gaza Strip under attack
“We are currently shelling Hamas military positions throughout the Gaza Strip,” army spokesman Jonathan Conricus said Saturday morning. According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, which cannot be independently verified, 240 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since fighting resumed. Another 650 people were injured in the Israeli attacks.
Portal/Alexander Ermochenko Clouds of smoke rose over the Gaza Strip on Saturday
The Israeli army appealed by text message to residents of the northern neighborhoods of Khan Yunis and villages along the border with Israel in the central Gaza Strip to leave the areas immediately. Before the ceasefire, Israel called on northern Palestinians to flee to the southern Gaza Strip to avoid war.
The Israeli army confirmed an attack on the city of Jabalya, where the refugee camp of the same name is located. According to Hamas-controlled health authorities in Gaza, there have been many deaths. Among them is the president of the Islamic University of Gaza, Sufian Tajeh (52), university circles said on Saturday.
“They don’t know where to go”
Humanitarian organizations reacted to the new offensive in the southern Gaza Strip with horror and outrage. “Hundreds and hundreds of explosions. In a place so densely populated by civilians, everything has to affect something…someone,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder wrote on X (Twitter) on Saturday.
UNICEF spokesman Elder described Saturday night as “unforgiving”. Hiba Tibi, director of the humanitarian organization Care, told CNN of the civilians’ plight: “They don’t know where to go.” There are not enough places to accommodate people.
“We must protect the civilian population and the vital infrastructure on which they depend,” demanded Hiba Tibi. The Hamas hostages remaining in the Gaza Strip must be released immediately. “The fighting has to stop,” she said. However, Israel halted negotiations for a new ceasefire. The Israeli government announced that the delegation had been withdrawn from Qatar. Hamas did not fulfill its part of the agreement and did not release all the children and women.
Relief supplies arrived through the border crossing
According to the army, Israeli soldiers in northern Palestinian territory “incapacitated terrorist squads and directed fire at terrorist targets” on Saturday. According to a report by Palestinian news agency WAFA, Israeli soldiers also carried out several operations in the occupied West Bank on Saturday night.
APA/AFP/Mahmud Ham’s civilians are leaving war zones
According to the UN, around 1.7 million people have been displaced in the Gaza Strip since the war began eight weeks ago. According to the UN, the humanitarian situation in the coastal zone is catastrophic. After aid deliveries were halted due to renewed fighting, some trucks carrying aid supplies entered the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing on Saturday, according to the Red Crescent.
Ceasefire not extended
The last war in Gaza was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel’s history, committed by terrorists from the Gaza Strip on October 7, in Israel, close to the border. More than 1,200 people were killed. Around 240 hostages were taken to Gaza. Israel responded with massive airstrikes, a blockade of the Gaza Strip and began a ground offensive in late October.
During the ceasefire, 80 hostages kidnapped in Israel were released. In exchange, 240 Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli prisons. Israel and Hamas blamed each other for not extending the week-long ceasefire.
Israel confirms buffer zone reports
Meanwhile, Israel confirmed reports that it would establish a buffer zone with Gaza. “Israel will need a security envelope,” said Israeli government security adviser Mark Regev. “There will no longer be a situation where Hamas people are at the border where they can cross over and kill our civilians.” He did not provide further details.
Israel has no interest in reoccupying or permanently governing the Gaza Strip, Regev said. At the same time, he said that Israel must maintain control over the security of the coastal strip after the war. He reiterated the objective of ending Hamas’s rule in the Gaza Strip after 16 years and destroying the terrorist organization’s military capabilities. Regev admitted that Hamas is far from defeated. Israel still has “a lot of work to do.”
US does not want to allow forced relocations
According to its Vice President Kamala Harris, the US does not want to allow forced relocations of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank. She said this to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on the sidelines of the world climate summit, as announced by the US presidential office.
She also spoke with the Egyptian president about paths to reconstruction, security and governance in the Gaza Strip. This requires clear political perspectives for the Palestinians and for their own state.
French President Emmanuel Macron questioned Israel’s goal of completely destroying Hamas. “Does anyone think this is possible? “If that is the case, the war will last ten years,” Macron said. Israel must specify its war objective, he demanded. Macron also criticized the continuation of bombings in the Gaza Strip: “The right fight against terrorism is not systematic and permanent bombing.” He again called for an immediate ceasefire.